


Dissociation

by klonoafan5



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Dream Demon!Dipper, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 09:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15815727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klonoafan5/pseuds/klonoafan5





	1. Chapter 1

Dipper awoke to the sight of red curtains draped above a stage. Silently, he took the time to get himself up from lying on the floor only to stop once he glanced at pieces of white string tied to his wrists and legs.

His heart dropped when he heard the familiar cackle of someone who he thought gone for good. He swiftly looked up and froze to see a single catlike eye looking down on him.

He then looked around in horror once he realized he wasn’t alone. Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford were there, along with Waddles and Soos and Pacifica and Wendy and the rest of Gravity Falls, even Mabel.

All of them were tied and hanged by pieces of string. Almost as if they were all..

_Puppets._

Dipper struggled to break free as the entire stage combusted into flames. Bill’s laughter growing louder and louder, echoing in his head until he woke up.

Breathing heavily, he ran towards the bathroom, using the light to check on his wrists and ankles for any signs of markings or burns. But there wasn’t.

He then let out a big sigh of relief.

“It was all just a dream.” He said to himself reassuringly.

But all his hopes were soon dashed when he looked up to see a yellow, cat eyed reflection staring back at him. Dipper froze, his heart beating fast until he looked again.

This time, instead of the wide eyed grinning figure before him, all he saw was himself with dark bags underneath his eyes, tired from the onslaught of nightmares and visions tormenting his mind.

_I need to go back to bed._

——-

Dipper sat in his desk, listening to the teacher’s lectures as he gazed ever so lazily out the window.

“Psst!” He stopped, lifting his head in confusion. “Down here.”

When he looked down, his eyes widened once he saw a miniature drawing of the triangular demon in his notebook. 

“Heya Pine Tree. Long time no see, huh?”

The brunet wiped his eyes before looking at the book again to see him still there.

“Sheesh,” Bill remarked. “Don’t you guys get tired of hearing that lady go on and on like that? She’s like a record who won’t stop playing.”

Looking around to check that no one is watching, he looked back at the book with a annoyed look on his face.

“Why are you even here? How are you even here?! I thought you were back at Gravity Falls!”

Bill let out a small chuckle. “Kid, I’m a energy being from a dimension that your feeble human mind won’t be able to understand. I always find a way to come back. You, of all people, should know that.”

“Why?”

“Wait, you...you mean to tell me that you don’t know?” Bill laughed, much to Dipper’s confusion.

“What? Don’t know what?”

“The answer is pretty obvious. You’re changing into a dream de-“

“DIPPER MASON PINES!”

He slammed the book and looked up to see the teacher looking directly at him.

“As much as I appreciate your love for supernatural activity, that doesn’t mean you can talk to your notes during class.”

His cheeks flushed as he placed the book away, the rest of his class sans Mabel laughing at him while doing so.


	2. Chapter 2

After embarrassing himself in front of the whole class, the lone brunet sat by himself at lunch, groggily eating his food. Silently, Mabel sat beside him.

“Hey bro bro. Didn’t get that much sleep last night?”

“No.”

Mabel’s frown deepened. “You had a dream about Bill again?”

“....Yes.”

The two sat in silence as they continued to eat together. Mabel glanced back at him before smiling. “Well, you know that I got your back right?” She said while lightly punching him on the shoulder.

Dipper gently smiled. “Yeah. Yeah I do.” 

He then stopped to hear someone making a noise and looked next to him to see Bill floating beside him with a tissue.

“Oh, don’t mind me. Just pretend that I’m not here.”

Dipper sighed deeply, gently squeezing his forehead with his two fingers, much to his sister’s confusion.

“Is there something wrong?”

He hesitated, desperately wanting to tell her about everything. About the dream he had, the glimpse of his Bill-possessed body looking back at him in the mirror, hearing and actually seeing the demon messing with everything around him despite the fact that his real body is busy being petrified back in Oregon.

He wanted to tell her, but he chose not to. After everything they’ve been through, he didn’t want to ruin her spirits.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing, Mabel. Let’s just go.”

 

The twins walked out of the cafeteria together, side by side. The heavy weight on him was slowly lifting as he began to relax, his mind growing silent of Bill’s comments and comebacks. It almost felt like he was stuck in a dark room for so long and Mabel’s presence was a switch to make everything bright again.

In a way, he almost felt that everything was okay. That everything that he was currently going through will pass and everyone would laugh about it like they used to.

Unfortunately life doesn’t turn out that way.

The next thing he knew he felt someone or something bump into him with so much force, he ended up lying on the ground, his body aching as he struggled to get back up.

“Dipper!” Mabel gasped as she ran towards him and gently helped her brother up from where he landed. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah...I’m fine.” He said roughly, still hurting from the fall.

“Want me to tell Ms. Peabody?”

Dipper stood there silently, his mind torn between allowing her to talk to the principal and wanting to go do something himself.

_What are you waiting for? You could go face him right now. Although I’m not so sure what are we going to do once we meet him. Hmm...I’m pretty sure no one would notice some missing teeth or-_

“ _No_!” He yelled ferociously, only to stop once he realized he was only with his sister, not some childish and prideful demon with a very messed up way of thinking.

“I...I’m going to go to my next period now. It’s pretty far away and I don’t want to be late. Gotta keep my grades up!”

“Dipper-“

“AlrightIgottagonowI’lltalktoyouafterschoolisoverbye!”

He nervously smiled as he hightailed out of the awkward moment by running straight down the hallway before Mabel could even finish her sentence, much to her ever growing worry and frustration.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as the coast was clear, Dipper ran straight towards a nearby bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Once he was finally alone, he let out a loud lasting breath while his body went slack before settling in a relaxed state.

“So much for telling your twin the truth, huh?”

Dipper froze as he turned around to face the one eyed triangle.

“Although I doubt that she would believe you even if you did tell her. I mean, who in the right mind would? For all she knows, she might think that you’ve lost it.”

“That’s not true! You don’t know anything about her!”

“Whoa, whoa, slow your roll there, Pine Tree. I said ‘might’, not ‘will’. And by the way, you might want to calm down first. You can’t go out looking like that.”

“Huh?“

Dipper stopped and slowly stepped into the light near one of the mirrors and froze.

Staring right back at him was a pointy eared boy with black sclera and glowing yellow eyes, his mouth agape in shock, revealing his razor sharp canines.

“W-Wha-?”

While he was busy staring endlessly into the mirror in disbelief, Bill floated next to him. “I can’t believe you never noticed it until now. Sheesh, I thought Fez was bad.”

Dipper remained silent, his mind unable to comprehend what was right in front of him. 

“What did you do to me?” He said rather deeply, his tone slowly increasing in rage while he struggled to remain calm. 

“I’m not so sure myself, Pine Tree. It might be a side effect after I possessed your body back at the attic.”

“Side effect?”

Bill gulped when he heard the intense fury in his voice. A angry dream demon wasn’t something to mess with. Especially a demon whose dominant power rivaled his own.

“I might’ve left a small portion of my power in your soul after I transferred bodies. But hey, look the bright side! At least you’re not going to be somebody’s punch bag anymore.”

The next thing the demon knew he was yanked by the bowtie to see his face.

“If you don’t fix this right now, Bill, I’ll-“

“Do what? Kill me?”

Dipper went silent, his ears drooped in utter shock and disbelief.

“No...No I wouldn’t...! I...” He hesitated as he struggled to hold back his tears. “I would never say that-“

“Face it. You were mad, Pine Tree. You were mad at me for everything that I did to you and your family. Deep down you downright hated me. You weren’t satisfied until you see me fall. Until I was dead. And that terrified you tremendously. So you hid it away so no one could see it, not even yourself.”

“Stop it...” He clenched his hand tighter, not noticing how far he’s going inside the demon’s body.

“But emotions can’t be hidden away forever. And this transformation of yours was the breaking point. It’s only a matter of time until you hurt someone else. Who else is it going to be, Pine Tree? Grenda? Candy? Robbie? Old Man Mcgucket? Pacifica? Lazy Susan?”

Getting a bit closer now. He can almost feel his hand holding on to his very soul. “Stop it...”

“Wendy? Stanford? Stanley?”

He squeezed onto the demon’s soul even tighter while clenching his teeth. “I _said_ stop it...”

“Your mom? Your dad?”

Tighter than before. “Stop it right now, Bill!”

He could practically feel his life flashing before his eyes. Is this what it felt like to be afraid of dying?

“Your sister Mab-“

_**“STOP IT ALREADY!”** _

With a mighty roar, he yanked out his soul right out of his chest. Dipper breathed heavily, the black sclera and yellow eyes disappearing as the rage began to settle down and fade away.

Once he calmed down, he stopped to feel something in his right hand. Something warm and powerful.

He looked down and froze, his stomach turning and growling at the same time, his mouth quivering and drooling as he gazed endlessly at the wispy blue light before him.

There in his hands was a soul. Bill’s soul.

He looked back up, hoping to see a glimpse of the triangle demon (he told him that he would always come back always) only to see nothing.

Dipper’s body went cold, his voice shaky as he looked back at the soul in his hands, his hands trembling.

“Smells good, doesn’t it?”

He wiped his head back at the mirror to see his reflection looking back at him with a devilish smirk. 

“It’s not everyday that a dream demon, a newly born one in fact, defeat someone as powerful as Bill Cipher.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Why does it- We just defeated Bill!”

“We killed him!” He stopped and looked away. “I killed him.”

“Get used to it. Demons fight and take each other souls all the time. It’s in our nature.”

“What do demons do after they take it?”

“What do we do?” He repeated to himself mockingly before smiling in a twisted manner. “We eat it, of course.”

“W-What?! There’s no way I’m going to do that!”

“You’re hungry, aren’t you? Eat it!”

“No!”

His reflection scowled. “Well, since you’re being so reluctant, I’ll make you eat it myself!”

Dipper paused once he saw his right hand aim itself towards his mouth. He clenched his teeth as he grabbed hold of it with his left. He struggled to stop himself only to slip up and froze once he stuffed it inside his mouth.

He closed his teary eyes as he swallowed it.

“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it-“

His reflection stopped to hear himself barf inside the trash can.


	4. Chapter 4

“Dipper!” Mabel cried out as she wondered throughout the school halls with a pass in her hand. “Dipper!” She frowned in worry, desperately clinging on her hopes to find him. “Where are you, Sir Dippingsauce?”

Mabel‘s ears picked up a loud barfing noise coming from one of the boys’ bathroom and stopped before slowly approaching the door and opening it. Cautious, she peeked inside.

“Dipper?”

She wordlessly gasped once she saw her twin brother sitting at the corner, his back facing her as he cradled himself back and forth, muttering to himself in a panicky fashion.

Seeing that he was unwell, she slowly walked towards him, hoping that she could figure out what was wrong with him lately.

“Are you okay-“

The last thing she knew she was slammed into the wall behind her, held only by the tight grip around her neck. Grasping for air, she looked up to see two golden eyes filled with unbridled fury, barring his sharp teeth almost as if he saw her as a enemy.

“Dipper, snap out of it! It’s me! Your sister!”

The demon stopped once his ears picked up her distressed tone of voice beforelooking at her closely and froze. She hardened herself in fear as he reached out only to stop when he gently touched her face.

_**“Ma...Mabel?”** _

She looked at him in confused silence while he loosened the grip around her neck. Was he able to remember who she was?

Seeing the look of pure horror on his face, she reached out to her sibling, only for him to stop and slowly back away from her.

At first she was confused to why he was reacting this way before noticing the mark around her neck being a very clear reason.

She immediately hid it underneath her sweater before slowly advancing towards him.

“It’s okay, Dip-dop. I’m fine. See? Nothing to worry about.”

 **“No...”** Dipper clenched his fists. **“It is something to worry about. I could’ve hurt you just like I hurt Bill.”**

Mabel’s eyes widened. “What?! Bill’s here?! Wait...” She gazed at her brother, finally registering what was going on with him. “Was that what you wanted to tell me?” 

Dipper opened his mouth and closed it instantly, finding himself unable to explain himself.

“Why did you say anything?”

**“I wanted to Mabel, but I thought that if I told you, you would probably look at me and think I’m crazy...”**

“What?!” She replied nonchalantly. “You? Crazy? We fought against a dream demon and all sorts of baddies back at Gravity Falls, you dummy! Crazy’s in our blood!” Mabel smiled dearly, placing a hand on his shoulder for support. “And besides, you’re my twin brother. Even if the entire world’s against you, I’ll always support you no matter what happens.”

A dopey smile grew on his face as he involuntarily begin to change back into his old self. “Not even if I grew two horns?”

“Not even that.”

The two laughed at their own antics before looking at each other. Mabel smiled warmly while she extended her hands towards him. “Awkward sibling hug?”

Dipper beamed. “Awkward sibling hug.”

The twins embraced each other before putting on serious faces. But just when they were about to pat each other’s backs, Dipper glanced over and froze when he saw his hand starting to fade. 

He went silent, not wanting her to worry over him, before hugging her even tighter.

“Whoa! Getting kind of snug there.” Mabel joked, causing him to laugh once again.

“I love you, Mabel, you know that?”

“Of course I do, bro!”

“And you do know that I’ll always be with you, right?”

“Right. Is there something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” He stated, his human side aching at the thought of lying to her while his demonic half merely shrugged it off. “I just want to stay like this.”

Mabel smiled before continuing to hug him even more. “Okay.”

The light reaching up to his head, he knew that he didn’t have much time left until he gets sent to who knows where.

With a soft and sincere squeeze, he smiled and closed his eyes.

“See you later, sis.”


	5. Chapter 5

Dipper’s eyes shot open as he found himself in a dark, empty place all by himself. 

“What is this place?” He murmured to himself as he walked around only to bump into something and fall on his butt.

“Ow!” He rubbed his head slightly while getting up from the nonexistent floor before reaching out into the space where he fell. To his surprise, his hands touched an invisible wall. “Huh.”

He continued to examine it further, lightly poking at it, creating ripples to echo throughout the plane.

“It seems to be some kind of circular force field keeping me in...” His eyes begin to widen. “..Almost like when Bill made those...what did he call it? Bubbles of pure madness?”

“But if I’m in a bubble....how come there’s nothing here?”

“Because this isn’t no ordinary bubble.”

Dipper swiftly turned around to see the full demonic version of himself sitting down at the dining room of the Mystery Shack while sipping on a glass of tea. The tux clad doppelgänger looked at him with a cocky look on his face before drawing him over to the table and take a seat.

Not wanting to be rude, he sat down.

“I suppose you have some questions.”

“Yes. Yes I do have some questions. How are we in the Mystery Shack?” 

“That’s because this isn’t the real Shack.“

“What?”

He snapped his fingers, causing a teapot to appear out of nowhere beside him. He then lifted up his empty cup towards the pot, watching it slowly fill up his glass to the top before snapping his fingers once again to make it disappear. “Yep. This is the Shack that we have envisioned so we can talk to one another. Hence why no one else is here except you and me.”

“Okay, you really need to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“The ‘we’ and ‘our’ thing. It’s creeping me out.”

“Fine. As I was saying, this isn’t no ordinary bubble. That place that your sister called ‘Mabeland’? That’s nothing but a mere fantasy compared to here.”

“And what is _here_?”

“You can’t tell? This is, or what used to be, the Nightmare Realm. Or other words, Bill’s mindscape. But now that you’ve eaten his soul, it now belongs to you.”

“But why? Why am I here?”

“You really didn’t think that all powerful demons like Bill Cipher wasn’t able to lose energy, did you? Think of it like a gas station. All demons have to come back to recharge eventually.”

“So I’m just here to replenish my magic?”

“You got it.”

“Then how do I get back?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out. See ya!”

He then snapped his fingers, leaving himself alone in an empty realm.

Dipper looked around, his mind already bursting with ideas. “Alright..since this is my dreamscape now...I guess I can make whatever I want.”

He shut his eyes and thought really hard. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a wide, vast forest.

Curiosity slowly rising, he snapped his fingers, changing day into night and back again.

“Whoa...This...This is amazing! I can do whatever I want whenever I want!”

He grinned wildly as he continued to explore the new world before him, learning more and more about his new abilities.

Later on at nightfall, the newborn demon looked up at the stars shining down on him with his telescope, writing down all of the constellations he see before leaning back on the tree and letting out a big sigh.

“Now this is the life. No more teachers, no more schoolwork, no more bullies, no more parents, and no more annoying sibling....I can stay here forever.”

He then froze, his eyes widening as he immediately rose from his spot, his ears wilted in shame.

“What...What am I saying? I...I can’t stay here. I have to go back.”

He stood up from the grass, determined to go back home.  _I‘m going to get out here. All I gotta do is think of Piedmont._

Dipper stopped, feeling the flowing wind grace his face as his eyes began to become clouded and more relaxed. He soon shake his head, trying to regain his focus towards going back to his family.

 _‘What‘s the point?’_ His demonic half asked. _‘None of them would be able to understand what you are going through; what it feels like to have the always present weight of knowledge on their shoulders.’_

 _‘They‘re just humans_ _.’_

He growled, his eyes glowing intensely in rage. **_“THAT’S NOT TRUE! THEY’RE MUCH MORE THAT!”_**

_‘Oh? And what makes them so important?’_

“Because they’re my family. They’ve always been there for me, and I’ve always been there for them.”

The other half didn’t respond.

“That’s what I thought. Now if you excuse me, I have a home to get back to.”

He snapped his fingers, summoning himself out of the Nightmare Realm.


	6. Chapter 6

Dipper found himself sitting in a car seat, much to his surprise. He looked in front of him to see his parents sitting at the front, his dad driving while his mom was busy paying attention to the road.

He frowned in worry. _How long was I gone?_

His ears then perked once he heard the sound of light breathing beside him. He looked over his right shoulder to see Mabel sitting there, her stomach going up and down repeatedly in blissful sleep.

Dipper smiled, all his thoughts and worries quickly wash away once she was by his side. After all she was his sister, his other half, his partner in crime. His life wouldn’t be the same without her.

His content soon turned back to worry once more after realizing what he had done to her with that disappearing act. She probably got even more worried about him once she realized that he was gone.

_If only I could apologize without waking her up..._

Suddenly, his ears rose in enlightenment.

 

Mabel slowly parted her eyes open and wiped them gently as she rose from her sleeping spot. She then let out a soft yawn.

“Are we home yet-“ She froze once she realized everything around her was still and monochrome.

All expect for her.

Still in awe, she looked up and paused to see her brother sitting beside her, his brown eyes filled with a mixed sense of excitement and remorse.

“H-Hey there, Mabel.” He greeted her with a little bit of nervousness in his echoey voice.

She looked at him straight in the eye and opened her mouth. “Now before you yell at me and punch me in the shoulder,” He interjected, interrupting her before she even gets the chance to say anything. “I just wanted to say..”

Averting his eyes away for her for a second, he let out a big, relieving sigh.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry-“

He paused once he felt a warm embrace wrapped around his body.

“I forgive you.”


	7. Chapter 7

“So...”

Mabel looked at her brother floating only one feet from his bed, reading books to try and see if there were some way to reverse whatever Bill did to him while chewing on his nails (which have seem to grown much more ever since his transformation).

“Where did you go back at school earlier?”

“Oh...I..I went to the nightmare realm.”

“Ooh! Spooky! What’s that?”

He snapped his fingers, causing the books to disappear, before sitting himself up and placing his legs in a crisscross fashion. 

“Back at Gravity Falls, Great Uncle Ford told me that our world have three main dimensions. Ours, the mindscape, and my- I mean Bill’s dimension, the Nightmare Realm. What was once a horrible place filled with unspeakable terrors. That is, until I entered into it.”

“What did you do to it?” Mabel inquired.

“Nothing much. As it turns out, the whole thing is just one giant bubble where demons go to whenever they need a recharge.”

“Like a gas station?”

“Exactly. Except if you stay too long, you end up forgetting things.”

“Things? What kind of things?”

“You know...Like your family...Your memories....Your own existence as a human being. It felt like the longer I stayed, the shorter time took for me to lose myself. If I had stayed any longer, the me that is ‘Dipper Pines’ wouldn’t exist anymore. Just merely thinking about it gives me chills..”

“Well, I’m glad that you came back, Dipper. My life wouldn’t be the same without you around.”

He smiled. “Me neither.”

Mabel smiled back as she turned off the lights. “Good night, bro.”

“Good night, Mabel.”


End file.
